Automatic doors: a key element in building safety

Automatic doors are a key element for the safety, comfort and habitability of buildings, say TECHNIFUEGO, the Spanish Association for Protection against Fires. Some of the characteristics these doors should have for fire protections are fire resistance, smoke control and safety for evacuation. But to ensure that a door maintains the performance for which it was designed, it is necessary to guarantee "its ability to close when it has to close, and to open when it has to open". And this must be done “automatically and in a well-controlled manner”

TECNIFUEGO points out that only automatic doors (whether motorised or not) can guarantee the fulfilment of their function for the safety and habitability of the building and, moreover, do so safely, without risk to people and property.

Resistance and self-closure

Thus, they indicate that "a fire door must be fire resistant, complying with all applicable regulations on fire resistance, self-closing durability, possibility of installation in escape routes, CE marking of its hardware and components, and CE marking of the door itself". In addition, it must be "correctly installed, in accordance with the field of application of its tests and the scope of its CE marking, and in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions". It must also not incorporate "any hardware or element not included in the scope of application of its tests and the scope of its CE marking".

Finally, it must be in a correct state of use and maintenance, complying with the UNE 23740-1:2016 Fire Safety Standard (elements for enclosing openings; specific requirements for installation, use and maintenance). "If all of the above are fulfilled, the fire door can be easily opened if it is in an escape route, and be closed at the moment of contact with the fire".